Monster Vs
by bananarama711
Summary: This is a series where two monsters from the games meet under varying circumstances and ultimately end up fighting to the death. I will be posting chapters as often as I can get a good match and a well written story together. Please feel free to PM me any requests you might have, but know that I might have to research the monsters involved in order to know how they act, fight, etc.
1. A Volcanic Rumble

**Basic Monster stats (so that you can still know what I'm talking about if you haven't played these games)**

**Deviljho: Basically a T-Rex with a spiky chin. Constantly hungry due to high metabolic rate. When it gets mad, its muscles swell up and it gains the ability to breathe a mysterious "dragon breath". Excretes corrosive saliva when hungry. In cases of near-starvation, it enters a state of advanced physical strength, with it's appearance and abilities becoming similar to when enraged. When enraged in this state, its eyes glow crimson and it gains a mane of "dragonbreath" which covers its head and neck.**

**Length: 27m (max) Weight (approx): 10 tons (20000lb.)**

**Agnaktor: Lava dwelling leviathan. Similar in body shape to a crocodile, but with an axe-like beak, a large fin running the length of its back, and a wide, flat tail. It can swim through lava and, using its beak, tunnel through solid rock. It is large, but incredibly fast. Because of a special organ in its chest, it can fire beams of heat or magma from its mouth, but only after creating a spark by clacking its teeth together.**

**Length: 32m (max) Weight (approx): 15 tons (30000lb.)**

Night is fast approaching, as the day's final rays of sunlight glimmer over the summit of the volcano. A Deviljho stalks the lava-streaked foothills, continuing his everlasting hunt for prey.

The past few weeks have not been good to him, as he had caught little while searching the sandy plains, and thus had decided to explore a new range as all of the local fodder had caught wind of his presence.

He had almost considered tackling a Diablos or Barroth, as the hunger had nearly driven him to the savage rage that accompanies starvation, but he knew the resulting battle would be more wounding than worthwhile. There was no doubt that he would have slain his foe, but all it would take is a horn through the lungs, or a bash on the skull, and his days would be numbered.

He was shaken from his thoughts when a loud clacking pierced his ears. He looked up to see several Uroktor harassing a lone Rhenoplos. His long tongue dangled over his fanged chin as the caustic saliva began to ooze from his maw. He would wait for the Uroktor to slay the herbivore and peel off its carapace with their beaks, and then, he would strike. The Rhenoplos itself would slake his hunger for now, but he would not miss the opportunity to grab a couple of Uroktor. Their hides are soft and fatty, and their flesh is relatively free of bones, save the arms and spine. Just the thought of such a delicious treat nearly sent him into a raging bloodlust, but he calmed himself. If he let loose a stream of the mysterious dragon breath, the flesh would melt and the bones would burn away, leaving nothing left to eat. Such a mishap would be unacceptable, save for in matters of life and death.

As he began his loping march towards the young leviathans and their kill, he noticed a pair of sky blue eyes watching him from the nearby magma, but they vanished under the surface the moment they were spotted, followed by a slight tremor in the rocky ground beneath him, so the Deviljho ignored them, assuming it was simply a bathing Uragaan.

The eyes were not of an Uragaan, however, as the Deviljho soon realized, when the ground beneath his feet shone white hot, the tremors intensified, and a hooked beak sprouted from the center of the molten circle, like a demon bursting forth from a pentagram. He leapt sideways just as the mighty Agnaktor, wreathed in flame, burst forth from the ground on which he had been standing. The Fire-Pike Wyvern landed, glaring at the Deviljho and snapping its jaws together. The intrusion was unforgivable. The Deviljho did not care if this beast was the mother of the Uroktor, or if it was simply looking to eat them itself. She had come between a Deviljho and his quarry, and as beasts and hunters alike had learned, the punishment was death.

She released a mighty screech, but Deviljho stood his ground. First, he would kill this foolish leviathan, then, he would eat her, and then, he would hunt down every last Uroktor in the area, and tear it limb from limb. The Agnaktor had become intimidated by the brute's disregard for her warning shriek, and she began to tunnel through the infernal strata. However, Deviljho would allow no escape, and he let out an earth-shattering roar. This startled the Agnaktor and sent her bursting forth from the ground, dazed, but relatively unaffected.

Deviljho turned his side towards her and charged, but the leviathan was fast. She slithered out of the way, and turned to face him before making her own charge. The Deviljho could not react in time, and the open maw slashed his stomach a moment before the long, flat tail whipped sideways and struck his leg. The crimson magma covering the tail seared his flesh, causing the outer layers of hide to peel and blacken as he was sent tumbling to the ground. He recovered quickly, however, and stomped the ground in fury. The magma had done little more than singe his slimy hide, and the muscle beneath was still strong. He turned to his opponent just in time to see its hellfire overcoat harden into black stone. He let loose a growl, and she responded with a long hiss, punctuated by her clacking beak. Deviljho lunged forward, his maw opened wide as it scraped the ground, scooping up a boulder-sized chunk of stone. He flung his projectile with the force of a bullet train, and yet, the infernal serpent whirled around and knocked it aside with a flick of her tail.

He was getting close to rage now, but he knew he must keep his calm long enough to remove that tail. If he succeeded in that, the battle would be his. Deviljho lunged past the leviathan with lightning speed, and clasped his jaws over the paddle-like tail. The Agnaktor shrieked in pain as several of his fangs pierced the thick stone. However, the attack was not a complete success, as several of his teeth had shattered on the hard armor, sending electric pains up his jaw, but he did not release his prize. He began pulling on the tail, trying to rip it from its owner's body, but the Agnaktor recovered quickly. She turned towards him and began to coil herself around his torso, her long, serpentine body slowly squeezing the life out of him as she grasped his tail in revenge and began to tear at his flesh with her ironlike talons.

That was all it took to push Deviljho over the edge, however, as he released the leviathan's tail and bellowed a tremendously loud scream of rage. His muscles swelled and took on a blood-red hue. The sudden expansion caused Agnaktor to lose her grip on the slimy, scaly hide. She slid away, and burrowed into the rocky earth. Deviljho was too furious to rationalize how to halt her burrowing, so he fruitlessly snapped at her disappearing tail. Several seconds later, however, she burst from the ground close to a hundred metres away, leaving the lower half of her body still buried. Deviljho began to charge towards her, aiming a bone-shattering shoulder slam at her exposed chest, but as he closed in, he heard the clack of her beak, except this time, there was something different. It was a hissing, fizzing sound, similar to water on a hot stone, and he raised his head towards the sound just in time to catch the Agnaktor's superheated magma beam full in the face.

The beam exploded on his face, causing thick smoke to cloud the area. However, there was a piercing red glow which shone through the choking ash, and as the dust settled, its source became clear. Deviljho had entered the "savage" state. Black-red lightning poured from his head and neck like liquid fury, and his eyes shone blood red with indescribable hatred. He lunged at his opponent, plunging his fangs through her armor and into her left shoulder. He immediately released, however, and let loose a torrent of the black-red dragonfire that spewed from his mouth, causing the opposing wyvern to shriek in utter agony.

But the battle was far from over. Both sides had long forgotten what they were fighting for, yet neither combatant showed any desire to leave until their enemy's ruin lie smote upon the mountainside. The Agnaktor loosed her own raging howl, piercing the night, but Deviljho still stood defiant. This only made Agnaktor angrier, as she turned herself sideways and tackled the deviljho with the entirety of her massive bulk, causing him to be overturned and momentarily helpless. She turned towards him and proceeded to repeatedly slam her axe-like beak into his chest, before delivering a slashing beak-sweep followed by a devastatingly powerful tail smack to the struggling head of her helpless opposer.

That combo of devastating blows would have been a guaranteed Coup de Grace to any other beast, but not to a Deviljho. However, he did not escape unscathed. several of the fangs in his chin had been broken off, if not entirely uprooted, and a massive gash split his scaly underbelly from the transitional area between chin and throat, all the way to the base of its tail. He rose, saliva pouring from his titanic maw, before delivering a dizzying tail slap of his own to the head of the gloating Agnaktor.

As his nemesis lie dazed on the ground, Deviljho reverted to his calmed state before loping off in search of food. This was a retreat, but only a temporary one. He would finish this fight once he was sure he had the strength to do so.

The Agnaktor awoke moments later, just in time to catch a glimpse of the alpha predator's massive tail disappear around the corner of a nearby tunnel. She knew where that tunnel lead, and she would not allow him the chance to regain his strength. She loosed a heat beam from sheer fury, before plunging her beak into the ground and tunneling towards her enemy's destination.

Deviljho had now exited the tunnel, into a large, Y-shaped expanse surrounded by bubbling lava. He spotted a small group of Rhenoplos and began to sprint towards them, when he was knocked sideways by a blazing torpedo of magma-coated fury. He began to grind his teeth together from annoyance when he saw his assailant standing before him, beak snapping in rancor.

He charged towards her, mouth hanging wide, and she countered by jamming her large beak between his cavernous, fang-filled jaws and locking the muscles in an open position, driving its sharp points into the fleshy inside of his mouth. He tried to pull his way free, but only succeeded in driving the points deeper. the only way he could escape is if she were to release him, and that was not going to happen. He tried to kick her, but her neck was longer than his legs could reach, and she responded by slamming his chin into the ground. Deviljho cursed his stubby arms, not for the first time, either. He looked into her eyes and saw a glimmer, almost as if she were laughing.

Without warning, she began to clack her teeth together at a blindingly fast speed, each time driving the razored points of her beak further and further into the so called "Great Devourer"'s mouth flesh, thereby preventing him from escaping before the battle could reach its climax, and as the sparks of Agnaktor's flint-and-steel beak ignited the surrounding air, she caught one last look at Deviljho's eyes.

They were filled, not with rage, but fear, genuine fear. He knew he had lost the chess match, and that his life was forfeit. But in the next instant, the fear was gone, replaced by a look of insufferable agony, as the laser of magma expelled from his vanquisher's smiling beak tore through his soft insides, boiling his blood and reducing his organs to ash. The overwhelming heat, having nowhere else to go, exploded out of its victim through the only possible openings, and Agnaktor was thrown backward by the recoil of her own attack, tearing a matched pair of gashes in the dead wyvern's jaws, and the look of agony was replaced by two intense blasts of heat, blackening the flesh around the now-empty sockets.

Victorious, Agnaktor raised her head to the skies, roaring a challenge to any and all adversaries that wandered the infernal wastes of the volcano, before plunging her fanged beak into the boiled of her victim, and feasting on the charred flesh within. She had earned this victory, and no one was going to take it from her.

*Meanwhile*

I looked out across the fiery landscape of the volcano, when a loud howl caught my ears. I turned to face the source of the noise, when I witnessed one of the most startling sights of my career. An Agnaktor had brutally and viciously killed a Deviljho, and had started EATING it! I looked down towards Cha-Cha, my young Shakalaka companion, and asked to see the hunt request form. I skimmed over most of it, the usual villager banter that it was, until I saw the terms at the bottom:

Hunt 1 Deviljho.

I handed Cha-Cha the paper and asked him what he thought, to which he replied:

"It look-alompa like a freebie to me, minion. Either way-alaka, Cha-Cha not going anywhere near that thing-thing!"

I nodded in agreement, and we set off for the boat home.

**If you've made it all the way here, then that must (hopefully) mean you read the entire story, and then liked it enough to listen to me blabber for a couple of minutes. If this applies to you, thank you. If not, I'm sorry that you did not like my story, hopefully my later ones will be better. Anyways, I would just like to make a couple of announcements about this series.**

**1. This is but the first chapter in what I hope will be a popular and successful series.**

**2. I will consider any and all suggestions, including battles that involve elder dragons, except for Jhen Mohran and Miralis, as they are far too big too logically fight anything. I also currently have a few ideas already in mind, but so long as the suggestions involve interesting and logical matchups (no barioth vs lagiacrus or other such nonsense), then I will do my best to make it happen.**

**3.I am happy to say that I will have a LOT of spare time to work on these stories, as I am in the final days of high school, and thus I find myself with a great deal of spare time (minus working weekends and pre-diploma test cramming)**

***edit* I know the killing blow was kind of a longshot, but what I was going for was the pain from the Agnaktor's beak driving further and further into the flesh of its mouth as well as clacking at a high enough speed that the Deviljho would be unable to withdraw from it before being struck again. However, from now on I am definitely going to try and be more descriptive if I use an attack like that in my future stories.**

**Finally, I'd just like to thank you all, even if you didn't like this story, because you can still make a suggestion for a fight you'd like to see!**


	2. Golden Darkness

Once again, here's a brief description of each monster & their abilities, in case you haven't played MH3U, or you just haven't gotten very far yet.

Abyssal Lagiacrus: The most dreaded and least well known of the Lagiacrus family. Its body is entirely black, save for its bioluminescent mouth, horns, and back spines, which glow electric blue, and its eyes, which are a piercing shade of red. Lightning constantly dances across its back, and it never runs out of electric power. Until recently, the hunter's guild had no information on it except for one ancient piece of scripture...

Length (approx.): 34m Weight (approx): 18 tons (36000lb)

Goldbeard Ceadeus: A rare and powerful creature, its appearance is identical to normal Ceadeus, the only differance being that its body is a lustrous gold, with mild accents of deep black. It far surpasses its white brethren in terms of power and defense, and its fury leaves a swath of destruction in its wake from which none can escape.

Length (approx.): 55m Weight (approx.): 45 tons (90000lb)

Night had begun its departure, and the moon shone its last dim rays upon the small pool of water which was the lone indicator of the existence of the Underwater Ruins below, and the refracted light scattered throughout the sunken abyss, resulting in a pale, dancing chorus of lunar echoes which brought peace and tranquility to a long-forgotten metropolis, now home only to the most powerful of beasts, whose very existence challenges the will of the gods.

In the center of this deep pit rests the Goldbeard Ceadeus, the Surpasser of Gods, curled like a serpent, its unblinking eyes fixed on the only entrance to the area while it slept. Although it was certain that any intruders that stumble upon its sunken Eden would immediately retreat at the sight of it, caution was never unnecessary, especially since there had been something in the water lately which caused an unwelcome tingling in the Elder Dragon's fur, causing it to rise like the hackles of a cornered beast.

There was an ominous presence nearby, made apparent by the scattered carcasses of several Royal Ludroth, and even an Ivory Lagiacrus, as well as the eerie sensation of having a pair of unseen eyes watching from the shadows. Additionally, during a leisurely swim the Great Beast had even spied two rows of glowing lights swimming along beneath itself and, thinking it was another of its species using the glowing organs on its stomach to signal that it was searching for a mate, it swam towards them to investigate.

However, as he neared the glowing lights in the black deeps, the lights suddenly darted away with a speed that was impossibly fast for a beast as large as itself. Discouraged by the sudden disappearance of a potential mate, the aquatic goliath headed to its home, deciding it would sleep under the moonlight, in the hopes that it would brighten its own luminescence and increase its chances of courting a mate.

Although, this royal nap was to be short-lived, as a titanic screech split the silence of the ruins, causing rubble and debris to fall from the ceiling. The noise was similar to a Lagiacrus, but the azure leviathans generally fled from the Ceadeus, and even their larger albino brethren kept their distance unless provoked. The Colossal Lord refocused his blurred vision on the source of the sound, and saw nothing but dark shadows where the moon's tender embrace could not reach, but a second, more detailed glance revealed a helix of paired blue lights, identical to the ones from before, though a major difference was apparent. A pair of blood-red orbs glared through the blackness at the dragon, and below them hung another light, larger than its kin and shaped like a gaping maw.

Then, the bright anomaly uncoiled and shot towards the ruins' keeper, and vicious claws lacerated the golden hide of the Ceadeus. It turned to face its assailant, and finally caught a full view of the luminous interloper. A Lagiacrus was what he saw, but this one had an ebony carapace that glistened as the dazzling illumination of its spines reflected off its mirrored surface. Suddenly, the lights intensified, and demonic lightning began to arc and crackle across the black Leviathan's back.

Enraged by the arrogant intruder in its sacred home, the Elder Dragon let loose a mighty roar, stunning the black devil. Seeing its opportunity, Ceadeus began to inhale a gargantuan amount of water, and as the onyxian serpent managed to regain its senses and charge, released the water in a massive beam similar to that of a plesioth, only at least ten times as wide, and infinitely more devastating. The beam impacted the Lagiacrus' head, but it did nothing to stop the charge of the raging thunder god as it raked with its claws again before repositioning and grasping the dragon's larger right horn in its arms.

Wrapping its entire body around the thick growth, it loosed an electric shock that caused the water around them to boil and shattering the dragon's horn, leaving a bloody, jagged stump. In a fit of rage, the massive dragon struck the Lagiacrus with its remaining horn, shattering the crystalline spines on its back.

As the electric nightmare struggled to recover from the immense blow, the Ceadeus followed up with a powerful slap from its tail, forcing itself into a backflip and sending the Lagiacrus spinning upwards. Once it had stopped itself, however, the Lagiacrus coiled upon itself before charging at the Ceadeus in an electric corkscrew, striking it in its cobra-like hood and tearing out a large chunk of flesh.

The Elder Dragon screamed in anguish and spun itself around once in an act of futile retaliation. As it spotted the glowing attacker attempting to prepare an ambush from a corner, it launched its own corkscrew attack, its sheer mass knocking away the wyvern like a ragdoll.

However, as the Lagiacrus went spinning away once more, it noticed a strange shape on the wall of the ruins that made its eyes widen as it formulated a plan.

The Ceadeus searched for it nemesis, which it had last seen spiral away into the shadows, when a loud roar caused it to turn around and see the Lagiacrus defiantly holding position over a wide shelf of carved rock which had once been part of this sprawling submerged city. Howling in fury, the massive beast swam over towards its adversary as quickly as it could, and launched a vertical horn swipe at the electric shadow. The Lagiacrus dodged sideways with the grace and speed of an underwater dancer, before slamming its tail down on the large, rusted switch that operated the dragonator.

A heartbeat later, three steam-powered spikes leapt out with near supersonic speed, and two of them hit their mark. One pierced the Ceadeus' flipper, and the other struck its furry mane, snapping the rigid bristles like twigs and leaving the dragon's beard in a patchy mess of splintered spines and torn flesh. After the devastating impalers retreated to their sanctuary, the massive beast began to flail about wildly, leaving its vulnerable neck exposed.

As the Lagiacrus rushed in for the kill, jaws spread wide, the Ceadeus halted its feint and wrapped itself around the smaller leviathan's torso, trapping its arms and neck, leaving the lower legs free to pitifully scratch at its capturer with its dull claws. The Ceadeus began to tighten its grip, slowly squeezing the life from the jet-black leviathan caught in its deadly embrace.

Feeling its life beginning to slip away and fade into the abyss, the Lagiacrus summoned the last of its strength in a hail mary pass, and let loose what might be the last of its lightning directly to the dragon, causing it to scream in the agonizing voice of sheer pain and anguish, the thunder causing its muscles to seize up and tighten on the Lagiacrus even more, before finally releasing it.

As both combatants withdrew from each other, it was clear that both were immensely wounded. The Lagiacrus' horns had been broken while in the Ceadeus' grip, and a large chunk had exploded from the Ceadeus' back where the lightning escaped into the surrounding water after ricocheting around in its body. After a moment of rest, however, both fighters had regained their stamina and, in their wrath, temporarily forgotten their wounds, so they readied themselves for another skirmish.

The Ceadeus made the first move, lunging at its foe with a bone-shattering body check, but the Lagiacrus darted backwards before closing in once the Ceadeus had stopped moving. It clung to the side of its opponent with its dagger-like claws before plunging its snout into the thunder wound in the Ceadeus' back and pulling out large chunks of flesh, which it hastily gulped down before repeating the process.

Desperate to remove the beast that was tearing it apart, the Ceadeus swam as quickly as it could horn-first into the ruin wall, causing a colossal earthquake and shaking the Lagiacrus from its back. After wrenching its horn from the shattered stone, it turned to face the Lagiacrus before opening its massive maw and biting down hard on the Leviathan. As the Lagiacrus began to charge another electrical discharge, causing its shattered spines to spark violently.

Not wanting to get shocked again, the Ceadeus flung its quarry from its jaws and preparing a water beam. The Lagiacrus released its lightning, which sputter feebly before stopping entirely. The fight had drained it, and it was hungry, so it did not notice the massive torrent of high-pressure water that hit it's chest directly, tearing away some of the onyx scales to reveal an even darker hide beneath.

Outraged and near dead, the Lagiacrus launched one final desperation move against its opponent. It began to swirl itself in a circle, generating a massive whirlpool before sending it at the sea dragon with a short, full-body tackle. As the maelstrom flew towards the Ceadeus, it succeeded in trapping the massive beast, although it did no visible damage.

The Lagiacrus charged fangs-first into the Elder dragons chest, puncturing one of its glowing organs and causing it to leak its luminous fluid into the wyvern's mouth. It recoiled at the unexpectedly pungent flavor, roaring in disgust. As it readied itself to deliver the killing blow to its enemy's throat, the Ceadeus pulled free of the whirling current and simultaneously struck the Lagiacrus with its tail and chin, breaking its spinal cord and rendering its lower body useless.

With unexpected vigor, the Lagiacrus grasped the Ceadeus' neck with its working limbs and began ripping and tearing at its throat with thunder-infused fangs. Neither of them would live to see tomorrow, but one was definitely going to kill the other before fading away itself, as the still-furious cries of the beasts confirmed. The Ceadeus struggled to keep the oxygen from leaking out of the newly opened hole in its throat, and the Lagiacrus shuddered as the electricity-producing organs beneath its shattered spines slowly leaked their contents into his internal organs.

This was the final moment, and death reached out for both of them, but the Lagiacrus was determined to send its adversary first. It stabbed its head into the Ceadeus' throat-hole and released all the electricity in its body in one final burst, frying the dragon's nerves and boiling its blood. As the life of its foe disappeared, the last spark of the Lagiacrus' life went out, and its heart stopped.

I've always wondered who would win between, these two, and I wanted to do a story on them for a while now. I don't usually have a plan for a winner in these stories until near the end, and this was no different. When I start writing, I feel as though I'm just watching the battle unfold and writing it down. Also, I have the feeling that a lot of people might not like the part with the dragonator, so I guess I'll explain my thoughts. I tend to think of the monsters in this series being, for the most part, of near-human intelligence, kinda like the raptors in jurassic park. The Lagiacrus is, in my opinion, one of the most intelligent, along with a few others like the Raths, Brachydios, Deviljho, and the Elder Dragons.

Anyways, I just want to say thanks again for reading my story, I hope this one is just as good, if not better than the first one. Again, if you have any requests for matchups, feel free to PM me or, if you review this story, put it in there. I've already received several requests for stories, and I'll try to get them made as soon as I can, while still trying to write a decent story.

Finally, if you didn't like something in the story, or if I wasn't very clear at a certain point, let me know and I'll fix it as soon as I am informed.

Thanks again!


	3. Howling At Shadows

**Basic Details:**

**Zinogre: Part wolf, part dragon, and 100% terrifying, this so-called "Fanged-Wyvern" is a monarch in its own right. Utilizing electric powers which rival that of the Lagiacrus, amplified by the lightning bugs which swarm around it, this monster is definitely something you don't want to stumble across during a midnight stroll.**

**Length: 19m (max) Weight (approx): 5 tons (10000 lb)**

**Nargacuga: Sometimes referred to as the "Living Shadow", this Pseudo-Wyvern is the ultimate nocturnal hunter. Able to practically melt into shadow, it is said that the last thing its victim sees is the hellish red glow of its eyes. Additionally, its wings have several razor-sharp blades running their length, and its long tail conceals an arsenal of knife-like spines, which can be dislodged and thrown like daggers.**

**Length: 21m (max) Weight: 3 tons (6000 lb)**

The moon hung high in the night sky, as though it were an eye, staring down at the Misty Peaks below. The silence was torn asunder by a thunderous stampede as all manner of small monsters fled through the forest to the safety of their hidden dens and burrows. As the last of them disappeared into the underbrush, the hulking, wolflike silhouette of a Zinogre sauntered into view. Too large and reptilian to be considered a Pelagus or Fanged Beast, as well as too small to be an Elder Dragon, this master of thunder inhabited a class of its own: Fanged Wyvern.

The classification is a fitting one, as the beast's body is armed to the teeth with a menagerie of wicked claws, jagged spikes, and razor sharp teeth. As the mighty monarch continued his arrogant saunter through the woods, he looked up and saw the pale orb hung low in the sky. An inescapable urge welled up inside him, as he began to continuously howl at the eye of the midnight sky, and every thunderbug within a half mile began to float towards him, captivated by the sound as they began to nestle within the fur on his back and discharge their electricity. Thus forming an amplifying circuit which bounced the current between the creatures, steadily increasing in power until no more could be held, and all of the excess was released in a massive bolt accompanied by a final roar from the Zinogre.

As the electricity coursed through his veins, speeding the beat of his heart to an astronomical level, every horn, spike, and tuft of fur on the wolf-drake stood on end, and a flowing aura of electricity surrounded him, giving a much larger appearance to him. However, this display of power had an unintended side effect, as deep within the mountains, an ancient evil awoke, with all the strength and ferocity of a beast, as well as the cunning and ingenuity of a man. No sound was heard, but a slight rustling of leaves, which felt alien and unfamiliar next to the force of air being moved as the creature barreled through the trees towards the sound of the one who shook it from an eternal slumber.

The Zinogre continued upon his way, ignorant of the nocturnal assassin he had awoken, when the snap of a twig in the nearby bushes set off his mental alarm. He peered into the bushes, unable to see anything- no, wait. deep in the bushes, where several trees overlapped in his line of vision, he saw a slight red glint, and a shadow, black against the deep green, but invisible to the untrained eye.

The Zinogre roared at the shadow in an attempt to frighten it away, but it did nothing. In an act of frustration, he sent out a ball of lightning towards the shadow with a flick of his paw. It spiralled towards its target in a pattern that made it appear it would miss. The ploy had worked, as at the last second the sphere of energy veered towards the shadow and struck with a blast that would even have wounded a Lagiacrus.

The shadow screeched in agony, with a call that resembled a dragon beating the crap out of a large cat, and the Nargacuga burst from the shadows. It screeched at the Zinogre again, but the mighty thunder lord stood tall. He had faced far larger dangers than this. Just recently, he had brought down an adolescent Duramboros, which was large enough that he couldn't even drag it to his lair beneath the waterfall. He had left it for the Jaggi and other small predators nearby, but not before consuming as much as he could of the fatty flesh on his victims back.

He was shaken from his daydream when the Nargacuga's paw smashed the side of his face, the razorblades in its wings lacerating the flesh of his shoulder. He rolled to the side and tackled in retaliation, but the black beast was already behind him. He felt the movement of air behind him, and lunged sideways just in time to dodge a powerful tail slam. As he turned, he saw the Nargacuga trying to extract its previously spikeless tail from the ground, and he took this opportunity to even the odds by landing a powerful arm stomp on the trapped beast's foreleg. The sound of snapped wingblades and crushed bone assured him of his success as he looked down to see he had all but removed the blades from that wing, as well as nearly flattening its paw.

The equivalent of a smirk crossed his face as the shadow wyvern screamed in pain. It had finally pulled its barbed tail from the earth, and it was furious. red streaks of light followed its eyes when they moved, and its tail appeared to have even more spines than before. The Zinogre swung his massive tail at the beast, but it hopped backwards, dropping to its side for a moment when its wounded arm gave way to pain, but it recovered quickly. Then, it began to swirl its tail around, making a noise reminiscent of a rattlesnake, before sending several death-dealing spines towards its opponent with a flick of its tail. He dodged these with ease, and retaliated with a burst of electric projectiles, forcing the Nargacuga into the air.

The Zinogre then ran towards his foe, and performed an intricate spinning maneuver below it before launching into the air and slamming his opponent in the chest with the spiked end of his paddle-like tail. This knocked the air out of the Nargacuga, stunning it and sending it spiraling down towards the ground. As his foe struggled to get back on its feet, the Zinogre began to smugly stride over to its head before raising a paw to crush its skull and howling in victory... Which is why he had no chance of seeing the black beast spin around and sweep his legs from under him with its barbed tail, literally knocking the electricity out of him. The tables had turned and, as revenge for its arm, the Nargacuga used its good wing to slice off half of the Zinogre's tail, causing him to howl his own agonized melody and sending him spiralling into the madness that is sheer and utter rage.

The Zinogre leapt to his feet and tackle the Nargacuga, sinking his wicked claws into the flesh of both its arms, before using its namesake fangs to rip and tear the flesh of his foes good shoulder. Its massively muscled arms constricted the Nargacuga, nearly breaking its arm, before, in a last-ditch effort, it slammed its spiked tail into its adversary's head, breaking one horn and chipping another, causing him to release it.

This victory, however, had come with a cost. The reckless attack had caused the Nargacuga to slice its own back with its spiny tail, creating a new wound for precious blood to escape from.

The flowing blood glistened in the pale moonlight, as both combatants struggled to remain on their feet. The Nargacuga was the first to move, taking a swipe at the Zinogre with its unbroken wing, but the attack was sluggish and poorly aimed, and the Zinogre reared up on his hind legs, then slammed down with his massive claws, forcing the Nargacuga to leap backwards to evade the strike that would have been fatal at that point.

The Nargacuga shrieked in frustration at its deceptively agile foe, and the Zinogre retaliated with his own howl, while simultaneously charging its electric power. The Nargacuga had no idea what was going on with its foe, and it watched for a moment, before deciding to launch an attack on the Zinogre before it finished this display, and so he leapt at the Zinogre. However, it was but an instant too late, as the Zinogre had finished charging just as the Nargacuga had come within attacking range, and it was hit full force by the overcharge burst released by the Zinogre.

The Nargacuga went flying backwards, and the Zinogre rushed forward before leaping into the air, inverting himself, and landing on the Nargacuga with its supercharged back, releasing a colossal amount of charge into it. The Zinogre rolled back over, and took its vengeance by slicing off the tip of the Nargacuga's tail with its sword-sized claws. The Nargacuga wailed in fury, before standing up and pouncing on its smaller but heavier foe. It sunk its fanged beak into the Zinogre's underbelly. The Zinogre began to claw at the living shadow which had pinned him, but he could not dislodge the beast that was tearing apart his flesh. On the upside, his strong ribcage was halting the Nargacuga's assault, for now, thought the Zinogre grimly.

His vision began to fade, and life was slipping away from him, when the horrible beast that was attempting to disembowel him lurched sideways suddenly. He got to his feet and saw the Nargacuga was doing the same, but the side of its face was covered in flames which slowly dwindled and disappeared.

"What the hell? That thing's still alive? Ah crap. I thought I'd just drive off the 'Cuga and take the free Zinogre, but I guess I won't get off so easily..."

He turned to face the unfamiliar sound. Standing beside him was a human, clad in orange armor with a wide-brimmed hat and a blue shirt beneath an ornate vest, clutching a large brown gunlance. He recognized the device, as he had seen them before. No wonder the Nargacuga went flying so far, as the powerful weapons packed one hell of a punch.

However, he had no desire to fight this human, nor did he want to deal with two opponents. The Zinogre snarled at the hunter, causing him to begin shaking and wimpering. The Zinogre raised his paw and struck the hunter, who had attempted to block it with his shield, but had failed to brace himself properly. The small human went spiralling off into the forest with a cry of "Son of a Bi-CRACK", which told the Zinogre that he had hit a tree, most likely knocking him out. The Zinogre would deal with the nuisance later, once he had finished his current fight.

He turned to face the Nargacuga, who had finally managed to recover from the gunlance hit, but had not escaped unscathed. Its beak was chipped, and one of its eyes had been burnt shut. Its eyes once again glowed red with fury, and the Zinogre began to feel rather angry himself. He channeled that ire, forcing himself to become angrier and angrier, before letting out a roar so loud that the forest shook from the force of it. The sky was free of clouds, but a bolt of lightning seemingly materialized from thin air and struck the Zinogre, sending him into and super-charged, super-enraged, super-strong state.

He would not allow this black assassin to escape. not after attempting to ambush him, and definitely not after that human shamed him by attacking his foe. Zinogre are nothing if not proud, and he was not exception. He rushed at his foe, the very embodiment of thunder, darting back and forth, dodging attacks from his adversary that were almost as quick as him, before dashing behind the Nargacuga, and slamming into it shoulder-first. The Nargacuga went flying, and the Zinogre effortlessly sped forward and passed it, before rearing up and catching the Nargacuga in its bear-like arms, using his victim's momentum to leap backwards and slam it headfirst into the ground.

The Zinogre leapt to his feet, and continued his devastating assault with a smack to the Nargacuga's face with his shortened tail, before leaping into the air with a spinning flourish reminiscent of a Shakalaka's dance, finishing with a devastating shoulder drop onto the Nargacuga. He followed this attack with an arm stomp, and then another, and another, shattering the Nargacuga's skull and crushing the grey flesh of its brain into jelly.

After several minutes of beating on the corpse of his foe, the Zinogre's rage faded, and his senses cleared. He turned from his foe, and began to search for the hunter that had stripped him of his pride. A smirk once again spread across his face as he pondered the many ways he would "thank" that hunter for saving his life, so long as he hadn't regained consciousness and turned tail yet.

However, even that would be acceptable, as it proved that just the thought of him inspired fear in humans, who acted as though they owned the world, even though they hid behind the safety of their city walls. He finally decided to simply return to his lair, and to give his wounds time to heal.

**Phew! This one took me quite a while to write, partly because I have recently been playing a lot of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger, but mostly because I was having trouble visualizing how the fight would have gone. I tried to keep things seemingly even, but I guess the Zinogre had the upper hand throughout most of the battle despite my efforts. Oh well. You may already know this if you've checked my profile just before reading this, but I've finished the last of my Diploma exams, and I'm now waiting for the results to come in the mail. I've also decided on the combatants for the next chapter, which will be an Azure Rathalos and an Ivory Lagiacrus (you can probably tell, but I like subspecies, since they are generally more interesting to fight than their counterparts, with the exception of Black Diablos and Steel Urugaan, which is nowhere near as weak to poison as the forums say, but enough of my complaints.) I've also been thinking of doing a special gladiator-style hunter vs. hunter chapter set in the Arena, and I would love to hear any opinions, including criticism. In addition, I'm also contemplating doing some stories about Blazblue, most likely about my favorite character, Taokaka (the reason she's my favorite is on my profile page). And finally, I'd like to thank you all for reading this, especially if you have read all of my previous chapters as well! Farewell, and I'll see you next chapter.**


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